Police Say US Forces Kill Family in Raid

The Associated Press
Monday, January 1, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq

U.S. troops killed six people Monday morning during a raid on a possible safe house for al-Qaida in Iraq, the military said.

The attack occurred near the west Baghdad offices of Saleh al-Mutlaq, a senior Sunni Arab politician of the National Dialogue Front, the U.S military and Iraqi police said. American troops took on heavy gunfire and grenades were launched at them from the building, the military said in a statement.

Police said the home of Salama al-Khafaji, a former Shiite parliamentarian who abandoned her residence after escaping an assassination attempt last year, was also targeted.

The U.S. military said ground forces raided the buildings, acting on intelligence reports that the location was used as a possible safe house for al-Qaida in Iraq. Six people were killed and one suspect was detained, the military said.

But police described the incident as an airstrike that killed four members of a family and wounded a guard outside al-Khafaji's house. A man at the scene said a guard at al-Mutlaq's office was also killed, but the police could not confirm his account.

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